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Seth Rogen’s Dizzying Middles

As a high-haired porker in high school, I have an innate sympathy with guys like Seth Rogen, the real star of The 40 Year-Old Virgin ("You know what's a fun game? Take 3 Excedrin PM's and see if you can … Read More

As a high-haired porker in high school, I have an innate sympathy with guys like Seth Rogen, the real star of The 40 Year-Old Virgin ("You know what's a fun game? Take 3 Excedrin PM's and see if you can whack off before you fall asleep. You always win, that's the best part about the game.") Now he's a leading man in Knocked Up, the story about a guy who looks like him who sleeps with a girl who looks like Katherine Heigl; she gets pregnant; they decide to keep baby; sewer mouth and sentimental hijinks ensue.

Joel Stein (who else?) profiles the curious ascent of the freakish geek who made the show:

Rogen's characters don't veer far from his real personality. In Knocked Up, he plays a stoner who scores a woman way out of his league on a one-night stand and gets her pregnant, and they decide to keep the baby. He's a self-conscious, cerebral John Belushi, constantly apologizing for his oafishness, desperate to be moral and liked. He is what optimists hoped Jim Belushi would be.